


staying, believing, and other things that are hard for them both

by sagesiren



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:43:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5706385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagesiren/pseuds/sagesiren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina wonders if the worry of her heartbeat is obvious to Emma, wonders if the hole in her chest that she created when she crushed her father’s heart into a spell is still cavernous enough that Emma can hear the echo. Regina’s hand is splayed on Emma’s low back, and she thinks, still, that maybe Rumplestiltskin was right all those years ago. Who is she to deserve love after all she’s done?</p>
            </blockquote>





	staying, believing, and other things that are hard for them both

**Author's Note:**

> I kept thinking about the scene in the first episode where Emma decides to stay - presumably because she believes Regina is lying about loving Henry. So this is my take on all of that, years later, when we know that Regina truly did/does love Henry.

“Why did you stay?” Regina asks out of the blue, her hand in Emma’s hair and Emma’s head on her stomach. She can feel Emma’s softening breath, fingertips drawing patterns on her thighs that would excite her more if she wasn't already exhausted.

Emma lifts her head and frowns at Regina. “I thought the invitation was open. I can go, if you’re worried about Henry seeing me.” 

Regina pushes up on an elbow. “No, Emma-” she takes her hand, tugs her back down. “I meant when you first came to Storybrooke. You asked me if I loved Henry.”

“Oh.”

They settle again, this time her head on Regina’s chest. Regina wonders if the worry of her heartbeat is obvious to Emma, wonders if the hole in her chest that she created when she crushed her father’s heart into a spell is still cavernous enough that Emma can hear the echo. Regina’s hand is splayed on Emma’s low back, and she thinks, still, that maybe Rumplestiltskin was right all those years ago. Who is she to deserve love after all she’s done?  “You thought I was lying.”

“I think I saw what I wanted to.” Emma holds her waist, proprietary, squeezing like a tether for both of them. “Or maybe you didn’t believe it then.” 

“Maybe I didn’t,” Regina says. Emma is more than she deserves, surely, this blonde haloed creature of _pure_ and _good_ and _true love_ who shouldn’t find solace in the spindly limbs of Regina’s embrace.  _Maybe I still don’t._

But then Emma - good, lovely Emma - is pressing a kiss right over her hollow heart, twisting and pressing slightly swollen lips up to her jaw, over Regina’s slightly open mouth. And Emma smiles. Emma, who brokers no falsehoods when they’re raw and in each other’s arms, says, “Everyone knows how much you love Henry, now.” She’s shy then, rolls her eyes at herself. “Like I said, I wanted a reason to stay, so I found one.”

Emma’s hands are on either side of Regina’s head, one knee moved to between her legs. “I see,” Regina replies, Emma’s grin full of mischief at how breathless she sounds. “And what about tonight?”

“Why did I stay?”

Regina hums, nods as Emma’s knee presses forward just enough to make her think she’s not as tired as she was before.

Emma hesitates, sits back (and Regina doesn’t miss the way her eyelids flutter at the friction she’s getting from Regina’s thigh). “I like being with you. Being here. Plus,” she adds, shifting her weight and licking her lips, “there are definite perks.”

Hundreds of things catch in her throat, declarations of love and questions and a sob that is threatening the back of her eyes, but Emma’s hands are sliding up Regina’s torso, brushing over dark, sensitive skin, giving her a reason to stay quiet. 

When Emma’s tongue follows the path her hands made, when she kisses again over Regina’s still-beating heart, the  _ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum_ in her chest sounds awfully like  _Henry,_ like  _Emma._ Like _please stay_ , which she can’t stop herself from saying out loud. Emma whispers, “I will,” and Regina thinks she believes it.


End file.
